By Rick Reeno
Manager Frank Espinoza is confident that his fighter, Carlos Molina (17-1-1, 7KOs), will generate a lot of problems for former three division champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22KOs).
The fight was officially announced on Tuesday, and takes place on May 3rd as part of the undercard to the Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana Showtime Pay-Per-View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Molina would return from his first career defeat, which he suffered at the hands of Amir Khan in December 2012. Molina was cut around the left eye in the first round and eventually stopped in ten.
"We're grateful to everyone involved, Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions, for giving Carlos the opportunity to redeem himself on a very big stage," Espinoza told BoxingScene.com.
Broner, like Molina, is coming back from his first career defeat. Last June, Broner jumped from 135 to 147, when he struggled to win the WBA title with a split decision over Paulie Malignaggi. Six months later, on December 14th, Broner was dropped twice and punished by Marcos Maidana. After twelve tough rounds, Maidana won a clear unanimous decision on the cards and Broner suffered an unexpected defeat.
Trying to regroup, Broner is dropping down in weight, to 140-pounds, for the fight with Molina.
"We know Broner is not an easy fight and a lot of people view Carlos as a big underdog and think he doesn't punch hard. People say Malignaggi doesn't punch hard either, but there were a lot of fans who felt he did enough to beat Broner last year," Espinoza said.
"Carlos learned a lot from the Amir Khan fight. And honestly, I believe Khan is a tougher opponent than Broner. Khan is much, much faster with his punches. Khan throws a lot of punches and he is very explosive with his combinations. I think Malignaggi and Maidana exposed Broner's lack of activity in the ring and they exposed holes in his defense. They had no trouble connecting on Broner or outworking him. I believe my fighter Daniel Ponce De Leon did more than enough to earn a victory against Broner in 2011. A lot of writers felt Ponce did enough to win and so did many of the fans."
"I believe Carlos is faster with his punches than Maidana, and if Maidana was able to connect so often, then I'm confident Carlos can as well. Carlos is not underestimating Broner. He is training for the best Broner possible. I can promise you one thing, Broner may dance his way in to the ring, but me and Carlos are going to dance our way out. You saw that little shuffle that Broner did after he was dropped in the second round. That was the Argentine shuffle. Carlos plans to teach him the La Raspa."
